Automatic cash-carrier



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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2; W. S. LAMSON.

AUTOMATIC CASH CARRIER No. 258,585, Patented May 30 l VE tmf UNTTEDSTATES PATENT Ormea.

WILLIAM S. LAMSCN, OF LOWELL, ASSIGNOR TO THE LAMSONT CASH CARRIERCOMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

AUTOMATIC CASH-CARRIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 258,585, dated May 30,1882.

Application iled August 29, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom tt may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM S. LAMsoN, of

Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts,have invented 'certainnewl and useful Improvements in AutomaticCash-Carriers, of which the following is a specification. I My inventionconsists in means for raising the carriers to the ways, in meansfordischarging said carriers from the elevators, in means fordischarging the carriers from the returnways, and in means for adjustingthe switchlevers to be operated by carriers ot ldiierent sizes.

In the accompanying drawings, on two sheets, Figure l is a view of oneside of the interior of a store with cashier-s desk, counter, andinclined ways or tracks, (the upper way leading from stations of.salesmen to the cashiers desk and the lower way leading from thecashiers desk to the stations of salesmen, and being` providedy withswitches,) also elevators, bridges, carriers, and boxes. Fig. 2 is across-section (vertical) ot' the elevator, showing the means ofdischarging the carrier upon the bridge. Fig. 3 is a larger oblique viewof a part of the two ways, with an elevator, a bridge, a switch, andmeans of supporting said parts. Figs. 4 and 5 areplans of a part of thelower way and a switch, said switch being closed in Fig. 4 and open inFig. 5. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a part of the lower or return way,showing how the latches and levers ofthe switches are operated by thecarriers. Fig. 7 isa plan of a modified form of the switch shown inFigs. 4 and 5.

A is a somewhat elevated cashiers desk. B is a counter. D is a way ortrack inclined slightly toward the desk, and passing the stations of thedifferent salesmen employed at such counter, so that a spherical orother rolling carrier placed upon said way at any station will travel tosaid desk. The carriers used consist of hollow balls M M', soconstructed that they may be opened and closed, and may receive andcarry money or other small articles along said way D, and are or may beconstructed like the carriers described in Letters Patent No. 243,451,granted by the United States, June 2S, A. D. 1881, to me. The way D,with its guards G H, to prevent 'the carriers from jumping off the ways,and

the strips F, of elastic material, inserted in grooves E in the ways D,are fully described in said patent. The way D being placed at someheight, the carriers are raised by and dischargedfrom elevatorsLsomewhatas inthe patent named, but not, in the presentinstance, directly uponthe way D, but upon what I call a bridge77 D, thc same being a short wayconstructed like the way D, but pivoted near the upper end, (at DzinFig. 3,) so that a carrier being discharged from an elevator upon the upper end ofL a bridge rolls down the bridge, the weight of the carrierbringing the front end that is, the end at the left in Figs. 1 and 3down upon the way D, and is discharged from the bridge onto said way D.The object o f the bridgeis, byits greater incline,togive agreaterimpetus to the carrier, and in a vvery long store to have the way D morenearly horizontal, and also to prevent one carrier from being dischargedupon or against another carrier which may be passing the elevator L. Theelevator Lis unlike the one described in said patent, and is merely aframe having top, bottom, and two sides, containing a shelf, L', sopivoted to the sides that the end of the shelf farthest from the bridgeshall be the heavier end, and so of its own weight, by dropping downupon the stop L2, keep said shelf in a horizontalpof sition. The shelfis provided with a depresf sion, L3, in its Lipper surface, which ts thebottom of the carrier and prevents the carrier from rolling oft' theshelf L when the latter is in a horizontal position.

The elevator L is guided by the vertical rods L4, passing through earsL5 on the sides of the frame of said elevator, and is raised by pullingthe ring P attached to the cord O, and there by drawing down the movablepulley-block S, through which and through the fixed pulleyblock S passesanother cord, O','one end of which cord O is secured to the top ot' theele! vator, and the other end of which is secured to the ceiling of thestore. The rods L4 also may be secured to the ceiling. When the elevatoris raised until the shelf strikes the projection e D4 secured to thebridge the shelf is tilted and discharges the carrier onto the bridge.The elevator then descends ot' its own weight and the shelf assumes ahorizontal position of its own weight, as above described. When thecarrier has reached the cashiers desk and has been emptied of itscontents it is returned (with the change, if there be any) to thesalesman who sentit by the lower way, C. The lower way islike upper way,D, except that the former is of course inclined in the oppositedirection, and is provided with drops or switches It, which enable onereturn-way to serve for several salesmen. Each switch It consists of asection of the track C, pivoted at C', between strips C, bolted neartheir ends at G2, to the sides of said track U in such a manner that theweight ofthe carrier as it reaches the front (the right in Figs. l and3) end of the switch will cause said front end to drop and discharge thecarrier below the way O into a box, H4, provided on the side next theswitch with a vertical opening, H,just wide enough to admit the end ot'the switch. rIhe box H4 has an inclined bottom, H2, which causes thecarrier thus discharged into it to roll to the front ot' the boxthat is,to the side of the box next the salesmanand the front of the boxprojects forward at the bottom, the projecting part being open at thetop H, so that the carrier can be removed from said box. In this box thecarrier remains until the salesman for whose use it is intended hasoccasion to eniploy it again. After th'e carrier drops from the lowerend of the switch, as above described, the switch is again broughtintoposition automatically by the weight ot' the upper end of said switchand of acounter-balanceor weight, R2, attached to said upper end. Itthis were all, the carriers would all be discharged into the first box.In order thateach salesman may receive back his own carrier (containingperhaps the change of the money sent by him to the cashier) the carriersvary in diameter, the carriers appropriated to the salesman whosestation is nearest the desk being 'perhaps an eighth ot' an inch largerin diameter than the carriers belonging to the second station from saiddesk, and the carriers for each station being larger than the carriersfor the station next below on the return-track C.

To preventtheswitchesfrom openingto drop a carrier before such carrierreaches its station a latch or lever, I, is pivoted at I to one of thestrips U3 at each switch, and the end of said latch nearest the desk isbent over the rear or upper end of the switch R, so that said rear orupper end of the switch cannot rise, or, what amounts to the same, thelower end of said switch cannot fall.

On the same strip C3 with the latch I is se-v cured a post, l2, to whichis pivoted, at la, the bent lever I4, one end of which lever I4 projectsover the switch to the middle of the same, and the other end of whichreaches down and enters freely a slot in the lower or front end ot' thelatch I, so that a carrier of sufficient size will, when rolled alongthe switch, lift the upper end of the lever It and move the upper end ofthe latch I ott' from the upper end of the switch R, allowing the switchto be depressed by the weight of the carrier, as above described. Inpractice, however, the carrier, instead of striking the bent lever 14directly, acts on a T-shaped piece, 15, secured to said lever ligandprovided with a slot,I6, by means of which and of a screw, 17, passingthrough said slot, the piece can be raised or lowered slightly on saidlever I. Now, by setting the pieces l5 successively nearer to the topsofthe switches, as the switches are farther from the desk A, and byhaving as manydi'erent sizes of carriers as there are switches, it isevident that the largest carriers may be made to stop at the station orbox nearest the desk, While smaller carriers will roll over the switchnearest the desk without striking the lever, which allows said switch tofall, and so each carrier will roll over the return-way until it comesto a lever, I4, on which the piece 15 hangs at a distance from theswitch less than the diameter ot' said carrier, and the smallest carrierwill reach the last box before being discharged. The form of switchshown in Fig. 7 I consider substantially like those above described.

In Fig. 7 the ball or carrier strikes the lever l14 on the side, and, inorder that the carrier may not run any risk ot being thrown out of itscourse, a latch, I, is used on each side of the way, a screw, 115,having a rounded point, serving the same purpose as the adjustable piecel5-that is, heilig struck by the carrier and heilig adjusted by beingturned ina screwthread eut in the lever l, and the lever being pivotedat l13 to the strip, instead of to a post at right angles to the strip.

The switches shown and described might be operated by any other form ot'carrier as well as by a spherical one-for instance, by a car orwagon-the switch in Fig. 7 being operated by a projection on the side,or one on each side ot' such car or wagon, and the switch in Fig. 6 bya. projection on the top ot' such car or wagon.

I claim as my inventionl. The elevator provided with a tilting shelf,L', having a depression, L3, as and for the purpose specified.

2. The elevator L, provided with a pivoted shelf, L, having adepression, L3, in combination with means for tilting said shelf, as andfor the purpose specitied.

3. In combination with the way D, the pivoted bridge D', and a carrier,M M', adapted to travel on said bridge and to tilt the same, as and forthe purpose described.

4. In combination with the pivotedbridge D', provided with a catch, D4,the elevator L, provided with the tilting shelf L', as and for thepurpose described.

IOO

IIS

5. In combination with the way C, the piv- 7. The combination of theswitch R and the 1o oted bridge D', and a carrier, M M', adapted box H4,provided. with an opening, H', as and to travel on said bridge and totilt the same, for the purpose specified. as and for the purposespecified.

6. The way C, provided with switches R WILLIAM S. LAMSON. and means forallowing said switches to be opened by carriers M M' traveling thereon,in Witnesses: combination with said carriers, as and for the ALBERT M.MOORE, purpose described. KIRKLEY HYDE.

